Minerals

Written by Rachel for the May 2014 issue of the Nebraska Dairy Goat Association‘s newsletter, the Capri-Zette.

Rachel’s Ruminations

Minerals are fascinating.

On our farm, balancing the creature’s minerals properly has been rewarding. Last summer one of our dairy cows (Tilly, who is usually laid back and docile) started jumping fences. I could not keep her in any fence we had, so I called the vet. He came out with his OB gloves, did an exam and told us she didn’t have rabies. Thanks, that helped a lot! Well, then I got the idea to give her a 300 mL tube of CMPK. Voilà! She calmed down soon after the first dose. After that I made sure I always had at least one tube of CMPK on hand. My other story happened in December. Tilly started calving in the middle of the afternoon, so I watched her, helped a little with the calf, and then went back inside. When I came back an hour later, she was down and wouldn’t get up for anything, had a retained placenta, and the calf wasn’t hopping and jumping around like he should have been. Once again, I pulled out the trusty tube of CMPK. She stood up, passed the placenta and the calf nursed. I was surprised how quickly it worked that time.

Since then, I’ve been reading a lot about minerals. Adding Redmond salt and conditioner to the cow’s mineral mix has almost eliminated our calf scours. One person eliminated his herd’s pinkeye problem with just the Redmond salt. Another rancher used selenium to eradicate calf scours. It’s amazing. Dr. William Albrecht found that cows have the ability to pick out the grasses that have the minerals they need, and pass over the ones that don’t. Advanced Biological Concepts has a mineral chart (http://www.abcplus.biz/Home1.aspx?Id=Mineral_World) showing the interactions between the known essential minerals… they are all connected! I haven’t found as much information about the human side of it, but assume it’s similar. It has been wonderful to see what the correct minerals can do for our animals. Now I just need to find something to keep the creatures from getting pneumonia! If you have any ideas about minerals please e-mail me here. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Our cattle, goats and pigs are fed an all natural mixture of Redmond Natural’s Salt, Conditioner and Thorvin Kelp, with a little Monocalcium Phosphate. For more information about minerals, check out these websites:

http://www.abcplus.biz/home1.aspx?Id=Home

http://www.bovineengineering.com/mineral.html

http://www.tailormadecattle.com/minerals-take-ninety-two/

http://lancasterag.com/HomePage

http://www.tailormadecattle.com/keeping-your-cows-in-good-condition/